Tea Party on Immigration

Oppose use of government services by illegal immigrants

Tea Partiers regularly invoke illegal immigrants as prime examples of free-loaders who are draining public coffers. In our interviews, Tea Party people placed little emphasis on the threat of immigrants taking American jobs.
Instead, the major concern was the illegitimate and costly use of government funds and services by illegal immigrants.
Tea Party members base their moral condemnation on the fact that these are "lawbreakers" who crossed the border without permission and thus are using American resources unfairly.

Tea Party participants across the
US are very worried about the receipt of public assistance or use of government services by unauthorized immigrants. Those we interviewed worried that immigrants were being given "rights" that she and others had had to "earn."